Members of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS), a radical Islamist group, began to destroy important historical sites in Iraq in March, including the 13th-century-BC Assyrian city of Nimrud and the archaeological site of the Nergal Gate as well as ancient statues, many human-sized or much larger, at a museum in the city of Mosul. IS considers the destroyed objects to be false idols. There are also reports that IS burned down the Mosul Central Library, which housed over 8,000 ancient...

A gunman attacked a “free speech” debate at a café in Copenhagen, Denmark, on Feb. 14, killing one man and injuring three police officers. A few hours later, a person believed to be the same gunman attacked a synagogue, killing one man and injuring two police officers.

On Feb. 15, a man identified as the gunman was killed by police in a shootout. The man had a violent criminal record and had been released from prison two weeks before the shooting. Danish authorities believe the...

Militants of the self-proclaimed Islamic State (IS or ISIL) killed 21 Egyptian Christians in Libya on Feb. 16, the first time IS had performed such an act outside of its area of control in Iraq and Syria. The victims all had been captured by Islamist militias in the eastern Libyan town of Sirte between December and January.

In response to the killings, Egyptian air strikes hit IS camps in and around the Libyan city of Derna.

On Feb. 20, an IS bombing in the Libyan city of al-...